Officer Suspicious Of Intern

April 24, 1998|By JOHN M. BRODER The New York Times

WASHINGTON — A Secret Service officer two years ago warned a senior White House official that he was concerned about the behavior of Monica Lewinsky, then a low-level aide in the White House legislative affairs office, according to a former White House official.

Within days, Lewinsky was removed from her White House job and transferred to a minor position in the Pentagon, said the former official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The officer, Gary Byrne, a uniformed member of the Secret Service assigned to the White House, told Evelyn Lieberman, then the deputy chief of staff, in the spring of 1996 that he had seen Lewinsky in the West Wing of the White House when he did not think she was authorized to be there, said the official, who worked in the wing at the time.

Byrne also expressed concerns about Lewinsky's after-hours access to the West Wing, which houses the president's Oval Office and the work spaces of the most senior White House aides, the former official said.

Lieberman has said she removed Lewinsky from her White House job in April 1996 because of ``immature and inappropriate behavior.'' Other aides have said Lewinsky dressed provocatively and left her assigned duties to attend presidential events.

An aide to Lieberman, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that Byrne had issued a warning about Lewinsky and that Lieberman had removed her shortly afterward. But the aide said Lieberman had received similar information about Lewinsky from other sources and had acted based on several warnings. Lieberman has appeared before the grand jury investigating allegations that Clinton had a sexual affair with Lewinsky and then induced her and others to lie about it under oath.

Lieberman declined to characterize her testimony, but has said she never received reports that Lewinsky and the president had been seen in a sexual encounter.

Kenneth Starr, the independent counsel leading the grand jury inquiry, is seeking testimony from Byrne and other Secret Service officers.